Nuevo Tango will sizzle on the friendly isle
Published 1:16 pm Wednesday, July 23, 2014
The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, in its 17th season, returns for the third year to Lopez in August, this time with sizzling Nuevo Tango and a Music Lovers Seminar!
This two-week summer festival has grown through the years under the inspired hand of Festival Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann. From origins in a 1998 weekend gathering of musical friends and family on Orcas Island, the festival today is an award-winning showcase of classical musicians from around the world.
This summer’s two Lopez programs focus on the intensity and emotion of Argentinean-born Nuevo Tango. A Music Lovers Seminar will be held on Thursday, August 7, from 9:30 a.m. to noon at Port Stanley Schoolhouse. Seattle double bass musician and music educator Spencer Hoveskeland of “The Duet” will lead us with wit and in-depth knowledge from the dockside origins of Tango around the world to its home of the heart, Buenos Aires. From there Tango reached the world through the music of Ástor Piazzolla and the voice of its unique instrument, the bandoneon. There will be ample time for musical examples, interactive discussion.
Following the Music Lovers Seminar by three days, on Sunday, August 10 at 4 p.m. the Pablo Ziegler Classical Tango Quartet promises to lift the audience from its seats at Lopez Center. Pianist for Ástor Piazzola until that tango master’s death, Argentina-born Ziegler continued to refine and evolve what is now known as Nuevo Tango, a musical hybrid of classic tango and jazz. This music is intimately suited to a listening audience rather than a dance club.
The Quartet includes Argentinean bandoneonist Héctor Del Curto, who won the title of Best Bandoneon Player Under 25 when he was just 17, and went on to play with Piazzolla at that young age. His instrument sings with sass and sizzle, wails and sighs. Korean-born New Zealander Jisso Ok has performed as cellist throughout North America, Europe, Argentina and beyond. Her brilliant style matches and interplays with the wistful, piercing bandoneon of husband Del Curto. Nine-time Grammy Award winner Pedro Giraudo, known as a highly versatile bassist, composer and arranger, rounds out the Quartet.
Joining the Pablo Ziegler Classical Tango Quartet on stage are Festival Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann, violin/viola; Jon Kimura Parker, piano; Bion Tsang, cello; and Owen Kotler, clarinet. “We love coming to Lopez,” Friedmann enthused after last year’s Lopez concert. “It’s the realization of a long held dream to share this music with all islands.”
Héctor Del Curto aptly described the treat in store: “I believe there is nothing more genuine in the world of music than that moment when the artist connects with the listener through the depth of emotion.”
Concert tickets are at www.lopezcenter.org. Seminar tickets are available at Paper Scissors on the Rock, Lopez Bookstore, and the OICMF on Lopez booth at the Farmers’ Market. Tickets are $25 Adults, $10 for ages 18 and under. Seminar tickets are $25 for adults, while youth 18 and under are free (but must reserve a seat).
For info email lopez@oicmf.org, or call 468-4442 or visit www.oicmf.org.
